Scottish teenager becomes first to pass UK driving test using a sat nav
A Scottish teenager has become the first person in the UK to pass his driving test – using a sat nav.
Grant Ferguson, 17, was able to ditch the L-plates following a countrywide plan to reform the current driving test.
His local driving test centre was chosen as one of 20 in the UK to trial the revised practical exam with the help of a GPS navigation system.
The examiner set up a route on the device for the first twenty minutes of the test and Grant followed the sat nav verbal instructions - with the instructor still in the vehicle.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) expects 1000 learner drivers will take part in the revised tests which will continue until the end of the year.
Grant, of Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, sat his exam at Bishopbriggs Driving Test Centre on 27th.
He said:
If the trial is successful, it could be the biggest shake up of the test since the written theory exam was introduced in 1996.
The changes could see the three-point turn and reversing round a corner scrapped.
These will be replaced with more commonplace manoeuvres such as reversing out of a parking bay.
The DVSA say that candidates will also be asked safety questions while on the move, instead of at the start, and asked to operate switches such as screen heaters.
Drew Nicol, Grant's teacher at the Popular School of Motoring in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, said:
Motoring groups have urged caution in removing manoeuvres like a three-point turn,saying it can be essential if sat navs lead drivers down a dead end road.